The payador

El payador was originally a cycle of six lectures given by Leopoldo Lugones, at the Odeón theater in Buenos Aires, in 1913. They were attended by the vast majority of Argentine politicians and writers of the time. Later Lugones traveled to Europe and returned to Argentina at the beginning of World War I.
Once back, he collected this material, added four new chapters, and published it in 1916, under the name El payador.
That year the centenary of Argentine Independence was celebrated. And what better tribute to his country than this book. Here the life and customs of the gaucho in the pampas are portrayed, in particular the payador, wandering singer of romances.
Lugones also establishes a direct relationship between Martín Fierro and works such as Homer’s Iliad , the Cantar de Mio Cid, and the Divine Comedy. Also, in keeping with the spirit of his time, he analyzes the culture and world of the payador from a racist perspective:

“The gaucho decisively influenced the formation of nationality because it was a conciliatory element and at the same time differential between the Indian and the Spanish. Everything that is national origin comes from him: the war of independence, the civil war, the war with the Indians. Let us not regret, however, excessively his disappearance that was a good for the country, because the gaucho contained an inferior element in his part of indigenous blood.”